A Missing Operationalization: Entrepreneurial Competencies in Multinational Enterprise Subsidiaries

doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2013.10.004

Long Range Planning

Volume 47, Issues 1–2, February–April 2014, Pages 64-75

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2013.10.004 Get rights and content

Under a Creative Commons license

open access

We seek to provide a comprehensive operationalization of firm-specific variables that constitute multinational enterprise subsidiary entrepreneurial competencies. Towards this objective, we bring together notions from the fields of entrepreneurship and international business. Drawing on an empirical study of 260 subsidiaries located in the UK, we propose a comprehensive set of scales encompassing innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, learning, intra-multinational networking, extra-multinational networking and autonomy; which capture distinct subsidiary entrepreneurial competencies at the subsidiary level. Research and managerial implications are discussed.

Cited by (0)

Pavlos Dimitratos is Professor in the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, UK. Previously, he has worked at the University of Strathclyde, and the Athens University of Economics & Business. His research interests include MNE subsidiary activities, SME internationalization, and international entrepreneurship. He has recently published in the British Journal of Management, Business History, International Business Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Management International Review, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. E-mail: [email protected]

Ioanna Liouka is Associate Professor at the International University in Geneva, Switzerland. Previously, she has worked at the University of Strathclyde, the Athens University of Economics & Business, and UNCTAD. Her research interests are in the area of multinational subsidiary entrepreneurship. She has recently published in the Business History and Journal of World Business. E-mail: [email protected]

Stephen Young is Professor in the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, UK. He started his career as an economist with the Government of Tanzania, and was then Head of international economics with a UK food organization. Aside from academic posts in the UK, he has had visiting positions at three universities in the US, including Georgetown University where he was a Fulbright Research Fellow. He has worked in many countries across the world, undertaking projects for the World Bank, UNCTAD and OECD. His varied research publications relate to multilateral investment policy; the management, economic development and public policy dimensions of MNE subsidiaries; and small firm internationalization and entrepreneurship. He has recently published in Business History, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, International Business Review, Journal of World Business, and Management International Review. E-mail: [email protected]